Science & Technology

Mars is one of the closest planets to Earth within our solar system and a strong contender for habitability under controlled conditions. Considering its unique status, it makes sense that many missions have been launched for the purpose of characterizing ...

One unexpected impact of climate change may be an altered ratio of male to female children born, a recent study suggests. Research published by a team of Japanese and Danish scientists in Fertility and Sterility indicated that there is a statistically significant relationship between temperature differentials and the male-to-female birth ratio.

Cancer research is constantly ongoing with new discoveries left and right and a potential breakthrough scattered here and there. Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, San Diego, Calif., have recently discovered a process that may potentially put an end to the controversial topic on the role of autophagy in cancer.

It is a well-established and often taught principle of evolution that new genes are introduced into the gene pool through both random mutations as well as introgressions. Introgressions are insertions into the gene pool through crossbreeding with another species (or related group).

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) list of 10 global health threats may surprise some this year, with uninformed parents and germs straight out of a science fiction novel making the cut. Diseases that were previously pushed to the brink of eradication are making a comeback, thanks in part to the anti-vaccination movement.

According to a recent study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Germany, a blood test might be able to reliably detect signs of brain damage in a person who is on the way to developing Alzheimer’s disease. This simple blood test can provide results even before the person begins showing hallmark symptoms of the disease, such as confusion and memory loss.

Many people might recall an experience where simply looking at an image of someone yawning triggers them to yawn. This is no magic; in fact, it is a popular phenomenon known as contagious yawning. Studies in the past have shown that approximately 50 percent of adults would yawn in response to other people’s yawning.

Scientists at the University of British Columbia have recently made a breakthrough in diabetes research. For the first time, researchers were able to grow human blood vessels as organoids in a petri dish, which will dramatically enhance research in cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes.

Chicago natives are no stranger to arctic weather, suffering through subzero temperatures at least once a year. But this winter, temperatures are plummeting to near negative 55 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill, making Chicago colder than even the South Pole. And the reason may be surprising: global warming.

According to predictions from the Baltimore Office of Sustainability, Baltimore will encounter severe public health, infrastructural and economic issues as a result of global warming, from expanding rates of respiratory problems to extreme flooding.

Paralysis is a debilitating condition, but one that affects nearly two percent of the population in the U.S. — approximately 5.4 million people. Many paralyzed patients suffer from quadriplegia, a condition signified by partial or complete lack of motor function in all four limbs. Often the result of a traumatic injury, paralysis is caused by an inability of the spinal cord to pass signals from the brain to the peripheral nervous system.

HopAI held its inaugural event on Thursday, Nov. 29. The organization, which seeks to connect and expose Hopkins students to artificial intelligence (AI), invited three speakers from different areas of study to describe their work with the diverse technologies.

Propellers and turbines may soon be obsolete when it comes to powering airplanes: new research suggests that in the future, a sustainable new method of powering aircraft may replace current jet engines and propulsion techniques.

In December of 1694, Mary II of England fell ill. Physicians who attended the stricken queen, half of the pair known as William and Mary, argued over a diagnosis, but before long it became clear that she had contracted a severe form of smallpox. She died three days after Christmas, and the news was carried across London by tolling bells.

While it has been a long-standing belief that pre-modern hominins, the ancestors of modern-day humans, contributed to the extinctions of large mammals in ancient Africa, researchers at the University of Utah have recently uncovered evidence that this may not be the case. Instead, these researchers believe that changes to atmospheric conditions, mainly the decrease of carbon dioxide as a result of increasing grassland, led to the extinction of these mammals.

According to the American Sleep Association, approximately 50 to 70 million American adults experience some form of sleep disorder. The term insomnia is used to describe the inability to fall, and stay, asleep. About 30 percent of American adults report issues with insomnia, of which 10 percent report having been diagnosed with chronic insomnia. These numbers are gradually on the rise.